2026 Life Logs, Day 220: New Balance
Date: Saturday, August 8, 2026
Weather: Sunny, Hot, with a Wonderful Breeze; High Temp 83, Low 71 degrees F
Location: At Home with My Shadow, Falmouth, MA
I do wear New Balance sneakers, but my ‘new balance’ is trying to mesh my life with my sister’s life in memory care. How much time should I spend there? Every day? Once or twice a week? And how do I balance this with my already too busy life? These are questions that are going to take me a very long time to come to grips with. But right now, I just need to keep dealing with dealing with all of my sister’s different health issues while still trying to live my life. Not easy.
Today I divided the day into thirds. I spent my morning visiting my sister and then driving to Centerville to the Masonic Lodge there that has free medical equipment. I had emailed them to see if they have what is called a high-low hospital bed with a scoop mattress. At least that is what I am told to look for. Since I did not hear back from them in the 24-hour period promised, I drove there this morning and met the gentleman in charge. I found out that the beds are kept in Mashpee and that you can’t really see them. You just tell them what you need and they deliver it with a minimum donation of $100 expected. Once I figure out how to get Patsy’s present bed disassembled and out of her room, I will call and the Masonic Lodge will deliver.
By the time I got back to Falmouth, it was almost 12:30 pm, so I went directly to the Green to check in with Jim Newman on things we need to do this coming week. I then went home to spend 30 minutes with Shadow before heading out to do door knocking for local candidates. I have volunteered to do this for about 6 hours each week and today was my first 2-hour shift. A lot of people are not home on a beautiful Saturday afternoon, but you leave literature and do catch a few people.
So , my morning was dedicated to my sister, my afternoon was dedicated to civic responsibilities, and tonight was dedicated to me. I watched three episodes of Grantchester on public television. I am feeling incredibly guilty for spending almost 3 hours watching television, but it was what I needed to do. And I am considering doing a similar thing tomorrow morning by going to the local theater to see The Odyssey at 10 am. Then I will head to Bridges to visit with my sister in the afternoon and spend tomorrow night preparing for Tuesday night’s Board of Library Trustees meeting. As treasurer, I have to generate the annual report to the town and present the proposed budget for 2026-2027 for Tuesday night’s meeting. And in between, I will spend as much time with Shadow as I can. He seems to be doing fine, but he has been left alone a lot in the past two weeks.
